There is no shortage of cool places to walk on the Mendocino Coast, so when you need a break from the heat in the Ukiah Valley, just about any spot you pick on the western half of Mendocino County will offer a nice respite.
But arguably one of the coolest, in all senses of the word, places to walk is on the boardwalk at MacKerricher State Park, which is located along Highway One just north of Fort Bragg.
Why? Well, first of all, day use at the park is free, so you can enjoy all the amenities of a state park, like convenient parking, restrooms and trash cans, without paying an entrance fee.
And once you’ve parked, preferably at the Laguna Point lot closest to the boardwalk, you’ll quickly discover the other reasons why MacKerricher offers one of the coolest walks anywhere, let alone In Mendocino County: Sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean reached by a flat, easy stroll on a boardwalk, where you can safely and peacefully meander along the rugged cliffs of the Mendocino Coast without twisting your ankles or getting your shoes wet. Best of all, those shoes could even be flip-flops!
Loren Rex, Chief Ranger for the Sonoma-Mendocino Coast District State Parks, who said
he grew up “just outside the park,” estimated that the boardwalk was first built in the early 1990s, but that over the years it has been repaired and upgraded to keep it in good shape.
Another boardwalk in the park, which used to border nearby Lake Cleone and its wetlands, offered another cool walk, but that structure unfortunately has not been repaired after becoming too unsafe to walk on several years ago.
Rex said he “had a group of volunteers willing to try and restore” the lake boardwalk, but that the repairs were put on hold pending studies to determine the extent the rising sea level will have on the park. When asked if he knew when the study was expected to be completed, Rex said he did not.
When asked if day use parking is always free there, Rex said it was, and that of the “17 designated park units on the Mendocino Coast, only three collect day use fees.” Those three are the interior parking lot in Van Damme State Park (it’s free to park west of the kiosk in the beach lot), Russian Gulch State Park, and Hendy Woods State Park in Philo.
Another free amenity offered at MacKerricher is a beach wheelchair, which the park website reports is “available upon request for use at California State Park beaches in the Mendocino coast area.
Call (707) 937-5721 at least seven days in advance to reserve the beach wheelchair. Please note the wheelchair does not fold up and you will need a truck or SUV to transport the wheelchair from the kiosk or Visitor Center to the beach.”
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